Wednesday, March 25, 2015

We've known since November that the Packers were going to replace their alternate uniforms with a new design, but now the team has confirmed it. Via the Press-Gazette:

Packers plan to roll out new throwback uniforms

Weston Hodkiewicz, Press-Gazette Media9:18 p.m. EDT March 25, 2015

PHOENIX – Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy confirmed that the team will debut a new third alternate uniform in 2015 during the final day of the NFL annual meetings on Wednesday.

Murphy said it will again consist of a throwback design that will be announced at a later date. The Packers wore the 1929-30 design the past five seasons. The replica uniforms, which represent the first year the Packers won the NFL championship, were blue jerseys with a gold circle in the chest.

NFL rules mandated it was the only alternate uniform the Packers could wear for a five-year period. Now that it's expired, the Packers are going to utilize a new old-school look.

"We're definitely going to do it, it will come up soon," Murphy said. "It's going to be exciting. It's going to be an old jersey. It won't be a modern jersey, a Nike… This will be from a past era. I think the fans like it. From what I've seen those games are always kind of fun and the players really enjoy it, too."

Teams are allowed to wear their alternate uniforms a maximum of three times per season, though the Packers traditionally have only chosen to wear it once a year.

Man, that's an awkward first sentence. He means to say that Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy confirmed during the final day of the NFL annual meetings on Wednesday that the team will debut a new third alternate uniform in 2015. We don't yet know when they'll actually unveil the design.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

For those of us who've been wondering how the league would celebrate the 50th Super Bowl next February, today we learned the answer is two-fold:

all season long; and

with gold. Lots and lots of gold.

First off, we have the Super Bowl logo itself. We've known since last June that the NFL will be temporarily departing from recent practice of silver logos (not to mention its half-century history of Roman numerals) to bring us this subtle logo:

What we're learning today is that the logo was only the beginning of a new Gold Rush.

The NFL will be using a black-and-gold version of its shield logo throughout 2015.

Not just a gold shield, but also all 3D-ified, with gradients and everything.

That's not all; the various event logos used by the NFL, including Thanksgiving, Kickoff, Draft and playoff logos will also be decked out in the new color scheme.

The Pro Bowl uniforms will be black, white and gold.

(Okay, that one's actually an improvement.)

If that wasn't enough for you, the draftees will be walking down a "gold carpet" at the Draft next month.

Starting in Week 7, all teams will be wearing sideline gear with logos trimmed in gold. Here's the Patriots' version:

Yeah, that's going to look good with the Packers' logo. Best we can hope for is that they replace the standard athletic gold outline with this metallic gold one, rather than doubling them up. And what's the significance of starting this in Week 7?

For the game itself, the NFL has decided that the plain boring old Lombardi Trophy just isn't enough to mark this momentous occasion. The winner of the game will get an additional trophy, this understated and subtle thing:

According to the league, the "5" and "0" are bronzed and plated in 18-carat gold. They each weigh 33 pounds.

And finally, the 50-yard numbers will be painted gold at every stadium for every game this year. Just in case you can forget for a moment.

I haven't seen this much gold since James Bond had to save Fort Knox from Pussy Galore.

The fetishization of the Super Bowl era continues apace.

I often wish they put as much effort into remembering the real Golden Age of the NFL, but that would be admitting the existence of a time before we counted our championships by Roman numerals. Still, a boy can dream.

Welcome

Welcome to the official blog of the Green Bay Packers Uniform Database, chronicling ninety-plus years of our team looking good while playing well. This started as a zine in 1994, moved online a decade later, and has become a longer-lasting project than anyone could have reasonably expected.

Click on "Uniform Timeline" below for the original Database, a chronological listing of the Packers' uniforms since 1919.

Chance Michaels is a native New Yorker who spent many of his formative years in Milwaukee and developed a lifelong interest in the region's sporting history. In addition to his work with the Green Bay Packers Uniform Database, he edits BorchertField.com, an ongoing research project devoted to Milwaukee's pre-1953 baseball clubs and their ballpark.

When not immersing himself in old game programs, wire service photos and newspaper archives, he produces theatre Off-Broadway, and was formerly a contributor to The Onion. He lives in New York City with his family.

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